Trojans pull away late

Brad Allis

10/08/2005

Apparently the Wildcats didn't read the newspapers all week. Everyone picked the Trojans to not only beat Arizona, but to seemingly choose the score. Well, the Trojans beat Arizona 42-21, a convincing win to be sure, but the Wildcats were down just seven points with 12:48 to play.

Arizona won the battle of field position but not much else. The Trojans racked up 720 yards of total offense and never trailed in the game.

Matt Leinart added to his Heisman resume throwing for 360 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 26-40 passes.

Arizona's Richard Kovalcheck rebounded from a bad outing against Cal. He was 16-25 for 180 yards and three touchdowns.

The Trojans got on the board first, marching 95-yards on 13 plays and capping things off on a LenDale White one-yard run.

White was a workhorse on the day gaining 180 yards and four scores on 25 carries.

The Cats answered. They got the ball at midfield after a Trojan fumble and Kovalcheck found Mike Thomas down the left sideline to get the Cats down inside the Trojan five. Two plays later Kovalcheck found Brad Wood in the endzone to tie things up at seven.

The Trojans scored before the half and then again on the first possession of the second half and it looked as if the rout could be on.

Except no one told the Wildcats that they were supposed to play dead.

The Cats came back to cut it to seven when Richard Kovalcheck found a wide open Thomas for a 43-yard score and suddenly the Cats were one play away from tying the game.

USC made it 28-14 on a White's third touchdown run, but the Cats answered once again when Gilbert Harris scooped up a low Kovalcheck pass for a two-yard score.

Arizona challenged one more time. Trailing 35-21 the Cats faced a fourth and one inside the USC 10, but Kovalcheck tried to force a ball into Wood but the pass was deflected and a USC defender came down with the ball.